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South Africa Eskom Extends Power Cuts As Plants Fail

Elizabeth Williams
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South Africa Eskom Extends Power Cuts As Plants Fail

South Africa’s struggling power utility Eskom Holdings Ltd will cut power supplies nationwide until Friday after more breakdowns at some of its facilities.

The state-owned company said it would extend cuts of 2,000 megawatts from the grid because of shortages caused by two plant failures. Eskom, which has faced delays in restarting two other generating units that were being serviced, said it’s been forced to ration power further after exhausting emergency reserves.

“The emergency generation reserves have been used extensively in the past days to avoid load shedding during the day,” Eskom said. “This has resulted in these being depleted, reducing available capacity.”

The utility, which supplies 95% of South Africa’s electricity, resumed rolling blackouts May 31. Eskom is saddled with about R400 billion ($29 billion) of debt that is adding to the government’s challenge of attracting new investment to stoke growth in Africa’s most-industrialized economy.

President Buhari Calls For Global Support To Develop Niger Basin In Africa

Elizabeth Williams
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President Buhari Calls For Global Support To Develop Niger Basin In Africa

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has called for global support to develop the resources in the Niger Basin area, home to over 160 million people who depend on the river as a means of sustenance.

The Niger River basin, located in western Africa, covers 7.5% of the continent and spreads over ten countries.
The basin countries can be categorized into water resources producers, consumers, both producers and consumers, and minimum contributors and consumers.

The Basin is Divided into four Major Sections, Namely Upper Niger, Inland Delta, Middle Niger, And Lower Niger.
The Niger River commonly called Djoliba in Guinea and Mali offers enormous development opportunities in the fields of agriculture, animal husbandry, fishing, fish farming, hydropower, hydraulics, and navigation, Buhari noted while declaring open the virtual 12th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Niger Basin Authority.

Bank Of Korea To Test Feasibility Of Digital Currency

Angel Gimalo
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Bank Of Korea To Test Feasibility Of Digital Currency

With digitalization accelerating globally, most major central banks are exploring and experimenting with central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs.

This includes the Bank of Korea, which will kick off a 10-month simulation study of CBDCs in August to test ways of issuing, redeeming and making payments with a digital won.

“There’s great need for central banks to issue CBDCs as a safe means of payment that is free of credit risks and liquidity risks.”

The BOK’s pilot platform requires partnerships with private companies.

The central bank will issue the currency, and private financial services institutions, and fintech and IT companies will be in charge of the currency’s circulation.

All this will be done in a virtual environment.

“This is the first step in constructing an experimental environment for technological research into CBDCs. In phase one this year, we’ll conduct tests related to payments and deposits. Next year, in phase two, we’ll test remittances between countries, offline payments, and digital asset purchases, such as the purchase of digital artwork and copyrights.”

The BOK will also choose a private firm as a technology supplier… through open bidding.

Some companies have already shown interest, such as Naver, Kakao, and the IT arm of LG Corporation, LG CNS.

German Official Rebukes Hungary For Blocking EU Criticism Of China

Zoe Maven
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German Official Rebukes Hungary For Blocking EU Criticism Of China

German Foreign Office State Secretary Miguel Berger has condemned Hungary’s decision to block a European Union statement criticising China’s Hong Kong policy.

Posting on Twitter, Miguel Berger said he bloc’s foreign policy was being undermined and that there needs to be a serious debate on ways to manage dissent, including qualified majority voting.

Hungary blocked an EU statement in April criticising China’s new security law in Hong Kong, undermining the bloc’s efforts to confront Beijing’s curbing of freedoms in the former British colony.

Last month, Budapest refused to ratify a new EU trade and development accord with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, as well as declining to support an EU call for a ceasefire in violence between Israel and the Palestinians.

As part of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s quest to promote what he describes as traditional Christian family values, Budapest has also pushed against any use of the phrase “gender equality” in EU statements.

The European Commission on Friday declined to comment on the latest veto.

Hungary did, however, allow the bloc to sanction four Chinese officials last March over human rights abuses against the Muslim Uighurs in northwestern China.

Asked to comment on the Friday veto, the Hungarian government’s media office said EU sanctions on China were “pointless, presumptuous and harmful”.

U.S. Announces More Than $266 Million In New Afghanistan Aid

Zoe Maven
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U.S. Announces More Than $266 Million In New Afghanistan Aid

The United States on Friday announced over $266 million in new humanitarian aid for Afghanistan as part of what it called an enduring U.S. commitment to the war-torn country.

The announcement comes amid unrelenting violence and a stalled peace process which is stoking concerns the departure of U.S.-led international forces is putting Afghanistan on a path to all-out civil war and which could restore Taliban rule two decades after the Islamists were driven from power.

According to a statement, the $266 million in new assistance brings to nearly $3.9 billion the total amount of such aid provided by the United States since 2002, the statement said.

The funds will help support some of the estimated 18 million Afghans in need, including more than 4.8 million who are internally displaced, 115,000 of whom have been driven from their homes by fighting this year alone.

The funds will go to providing shelter, job opportunities, basic healthcare, emergency food, water, sanitation, and hygienic services in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Officials of the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, who ordered an end to the 20-year U.S. troop presence by Sept. 11, have vowed to continue U.S. military and civilian aid to Kabul.

But they warned it could be suspended if there is backtracking on progress made in human rights, especially those of women and girls.

It also will support protection programs for “the most vulnerable Afghans, including women and girls facing particular risks, including gender-based violence.

Russian Charter Flights To Egypt To Resume In Coming Days

Angel Gimalo
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Russian Charter Flights To Egypt To Resume In Coming Days

Russian charter flights to Egyptian resorts are expected to resume in the coming days after a years-long hiatus, the Interfax news agency cited the boss of Aeroflot as saying on Friday.

Flights to resort destinations Sharm al-Sheikh and Hurghada were suspended after a Russian passenger plane crashed in Sinai in October 2015, killing 224 people.

The plane had been taking Russian holiday makers home from Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg in 2015, when it broke up over the Sinai Peninsula, killing all on board. A group affiliated with Islamic State militants claimed responsibility.

Sweden’s Left Party Threatens To Topple Govt Over Rent Reform

Angel Gimalo
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Sweden’s Left Party Threatens To Topple Govt Over Rent Reform

Sweden’s centrist government came under threat on Friday after the Left Party vowed to bring it down over the prospective abolition of rent controls on new residential housing.

The Left Party threat came after the government received a report into the reform of Sweden’s highly regulated and much debated rent market, proposing that tenants and landlords negotiate rent between them and that rents subsequently follow the consumer prices index.

“This is a disaster for Sweden’s tenants,” Left Party leader Nooshi Dagostar told news agency TT. “This means sharply higher rents and a paradigm change for the housing market.”

Dagostar reiterated a threat to join forces with the right-wing opposition to bring down Prime Minister Stefan Lofven’s government if the proposal was brought to parliament.

Sweden’s parliament is fragmented and the Social Democrats and the Greens Sweden form a fragile government dependent on the support of two small centre-right parties. General elections are scheduled for next year.

However, Minister for Justice Morgan Johansson dismissed the prospect of raised rents for large numbers of people.

“All the tenants who have become anxious after the recent agitation can breathe a sigh of relief. This does not affect them,” Johansson told a news conference, adding he wanted minor changes to the proposals before putting them to parliament.

Rents in Sweden are set in a form of collective bargaining and people opposed to the system claim it makes it unprofitable to build new for-rent apartments. Johansson said the reform would only relate to apartments built after 2022.

EU Bans Belarus Airlines As Opposition Urges G7 Sanctions

Angel Gimalo
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EU Bans Belarus Airlines As Opposition Urges G7 Sanctions

Belarus carriers will be banned from flying over European Union territory or having access to its airports from Friday, the bloc said, as the country’s exiled opposition leader called for more joint Western sanctions.

The EU decision is part of planned punitive measures against Belarus in response to Minsk scrambling a warplane to force the landing on May 23 of a Ryanair flight carrying an opposition journalist, who was then arrested. read more

The move is due to take effect at midnight Central European Time (2200 GMT), and requires EU member states “to deny permission to land in, take off from or overfly their territories to any aircraft operated by Belarusian air carriers,” EU governments said in a statement.

The ban also includes marketing carriers, which sell seats on planes operated by another airline as part of a code-share agreement.

On Wednesday, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued a safety directive saying all EU aircraft should also avoid Belarus air space unless in an emergency.

Global airline industry body IATA criticised the decision, which will make flights to Asia longer and more costly. read more

However, the EU and NATO believe the forced landing of the flight from Athens to Vilnius to arrest journalist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend amounted to state piracy and must not be tolerated.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said Protasevich was plotting a rebellion, and accused the West of waging a hybrid war against him.

MH17 Plane Crash Families Prepare For Critical Trial Phase

Zoe Maven
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MH17 Plane Crash Families Prepare For Critical Trial Phase

Families of people who died in the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 will hear painful details when a critical stage of a trial over the crash starts on Monday.

Dutch judges overseeing the murder trial of three Russians and a Ukrainian man accused of having responsibility for the downing will summarise evidence at the hearing in a high-security courtroom next to Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport.

According international investigators say MH17 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down by a missile fired from territory held by pro-Russian rebels during fighting with Ukrainian government troops.

All 298 people on board were killed, two-thirds of them Dutch nationals.

After years of collecting evidence, a team of international investigators concluded in May 2018 that the missile launcher used to shoot down the aircraft belonged to Russia’s 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade.

The Dutch government holds Moscow responsible but Russia denies any involvement.

Prosecutors, who say the four defendants all held leading positions in pro-Russian militias operating in Ukraine, will present evidence and may call witnesses, court officials said.

None of the defendants are in custody. One, Russian Oleg Pulatov, is represented in the proceedings and has said he had no involvement in the crash. The other three are being tried in absentia and have not appointed lawyers to represent them during the proceedings.

Prosecutors say the investigation into MH17 is still ongoing and they are looking at other possible suspects, including the people who manned the missile system and ordered its firing.

World Bank Pauses Payments Of Operations In Mali

Angel Gimalo
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0
World Bank Pauses Payments Of Operations In Mali

The World Bank said on Friday it had temporarily paused payments to operations in Mali following a military coup, while the man expected to become the new prime minister warned sanctions would only complicate the country’s crisis.

The Bank’s actions add to pressure on Mali’s military leadership after chief security ally France announced on Thursday it was suspending joint operations with Malian troops in order to press for a return to civilian rule.

The military’s overthrow of Mali’s transitional president last week, its second coup in nine months, has drawn international condemnation and raised fears the political crisis will weaken regional efforts to fight Islamist militants.

The World Bank, whose International Development Association (IDA) is currently financing projects to the tune of $1.5 billion in Mali, confirmed the suspension of payments in a statement to Reuters.

“In accordance with the World Bank policy applicable to similar situations, it has temporarily paused disbursements on its operations in Mali, as it closely monitors and assesses the situation,” it said.

Assimi Goita, the colonel who led both coups, was declared president last Friday after having served as vice president under Bah Ndaw, who had been leading the transition since September. Ndaw and his prime minister resigned while in military custody last week.

Goita is widely expected in the coming days to name as prime minister Choguel Maiga, the leader of the M5-RFP opposition coalition that spearheaded protests against former President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita before his overthrow last August.

At a rally in the capital Bamako on Friday to mark the one-year anniversary of the start of the protests against Keita, Maiga was alternately firm and conciliatory toward foreign partners.

“We will respect international engagements that aren’t contrary to the fundamental interests of the Malian people,” he said before thousands of supporters in the city’s Independence Square.

“Sanctions and threats will only complicate the situation,” he said.

France, the former colonial power, has more than 5,000 troops waging counter-insurgency operations against Islamist militants in Mali and the wider Sahel, an arid region of West Africa just below the Sahara desert.

It hopes to use its leverage to press Goita to respect the 18-month timetable agreed to at the start of the transition by organising a presidential election next February.

The African Union and a West African regional bloc responded to the coup by suspending Mali’s membership but did not impose further sanctions.

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